On the 25th of January the forty delegates assembled.  Much excitement had been caused at this time among the French by the escape of Dr. Schultz, their great opponent.  Commissioner Smith addressed the Convention.  Riel wished him to accept the original Bill of Rights, but Mr. Smith refused to do this.  A proposal was then brought up by the French Deputies that the proposal made by the Imperial Government to the Hudson’s Bay Company to take over their lands be null and void.  This was voted down by 22 to 17.  Riel rose in rage and said:  “The devil take it; we must win.  The vote may go as it likes, but the motion must be carried.”  Riel raged like a madman.  That night, in his fury, he went to the bedside of Governor McTavish, sick as he was, and it is said, threatened to have him shot at once.  Dr. Cowan, the master of the fort, was arrested, and so was Mr. Bannatyne, the chief merchant, as well as Charles Nolan, a loyal French delegate.

On the 7th of February the delegates again met, and at this meeting Commissioner Smith, having the power given him by the Dominion Government, invited the Convention to send delegates to Canada to meet the Government at Ottawa.  Two English delegates, Messrs. Sutherland and Fraser, not quite sure on this point, visited Governor McTavish for his advise.  “Form a Government, for God’s sake,” said the Governor, “and restore peace and order in the Settlement.”  Being asked, if in such case, he would delegate his authority to anyone, he hastily replied, “I am dying, I will not delegate my authority to anyone.”

The Convention then proceeded to elect a provisional government.  Most of the officers were English, they being better educated and more prominent than the French members.  But when it came to the election of a President, to their disgust Riel was chosen.  Immediately after this, Governor McTavish, Dr. Cowan, and Mr. Bannatyne were released as prisoners, but Commissioner Smith was a virtual prisoner in his quarters in the fort, though his influence was still felt at every turn.

[Illustration:  Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal.  Governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company]

Among the earliest acts of the new provisional government was on February 11th, the confiscation of Dr. Schultz’s property, and of the office of The Norwester newspaper.  The type of The Norwester was said to have been melted into bar lead and bullets.  Judge Black, Father Richot, and A.H.  Scott were chosen as delegates to Ottawa, though the appointment of the last of these, the “American delegate,” was very distasteful to the English-speaking people.  The success of Riel led him to dismiss about a quarter of the prisoners in Fort Garry.  The fact that he seemed to hold the remainder as hostages stirred up the English people living along the Assiniboine.